Paranoia
by DIJ
Summary: After the events in the Arklay Mountains, Rebecca Chambers returned to her family home in Thompson Falls, Montana to try and put the pieces of her life back in order. Try as she might, she still can't seem to shake those dreadful days from her mind.


**Disclaimer**: Biohazard and all related materials are copyright to Capcom. I do not claim to have any affiliation with this entity, and all materials held herein were produced for fun, without any profit gained by the authors.

**A/N**:

This was written as a part of a prompt challenge. For this piece the prompt was "paranoid." All fics in this challenge relate to an upcoming larger worker, and take place in mid 1999, after the events of RE 0, 1, & 2. Original characters are involved in the way of family members. They are, by name and relationship:

Caleb, Judas & Saul Chambers - Rebecca's three brothers in order of age from youngest to eldest.  
Nicholas Kaestner - A friend of Rebecca's and Caleb's from college.

The nickname "chibi-chan" isn't actually as random as it might first appear. Due to Rebecca being modeled from Ayumi Hamasaki, it has been a long held belief of mine that she's half Japanese. In this fan-verse, her mother is a Japanese-American immigrant; her brothers gave her that nickname when she was younger.

Written solely by Covenmouse. (One of the DIJ duo. Posted here as it belongs to the joint 'verse-see profile for more info.)

* * *

Sunlight streamed through white, fluffy clouds, and poured like liquid gold over the meadow outside the kitchen window. No matter how poetic the scene appeared, Rebecca could feel nothing for it but a faint chill down her spine which told her that something, somewhere, was wrong.

The window was up, with little but the screen to protect her from the breeze outside world. Since she'd had no inclination to close it when she'd found it open that morning-likely left by Caleb before he'd gone out to work-she'd left the air conditioner off. No one else was home, and the house was thoroughly silent.

So, too, was the world outside.

Standing on her tip-toes, Rebecca could just manage to lean over the sink and rest her elbows on the window sill. She stared out the screen, at the dark woods on the other side of the meadow, as the hair on the back of her neck raised.

Was something moving in the shadow? A tiny flash of red light, like a scope on a rifle...

"Hey."

Rebecca shrieked. She turned, grabbing a butcher knife from the sink as she did, and slashed at the air behind her. Nicholas jumped back just in time to avoid being hit as she fumbled her footing and had to catch herself against the counter.

"Whoa!" he shouted, hands up to defend himself. "Holy shit, it's just me!"

Panting, Rebecca dropped the knife with a clatter and pressed her hand to her breast. She stared at him for a long moment, unable to do more than shake, until he came forward to put his hands upon her shoulders.

"Breathe, Chibi-chan," the man whispered in encouragement. He scrubbed her arms lightly, as though she had a chill, and she leaned her forehead against his chest.

"Sorry," she managed to mutter when her heart had stopped its racing, "Sorry, I thought... something else."

"Obviously," Nick scoffed and wrapped his arms about her, "You're rather worked up this morning."

"I thought I was alone." Rebecca frowned as that sentiment fully registered. She pulled away and looked up at him. "In fact, I'm fairly certain I was. How did you get in here?"

Nick moved to grab a mug from the cabinet to her left. "The front door was open," he replied.

Now that her hands had stilled, Rebecca bent to retrieve the knife and tossed it back into the sink. "Since when did you start letting yourself into Caleb's house?" Though she didn't mind, she thought that her brother might. It wasn't as though Caleb's car had been in the driveway.

"No," Nick corrected her and gave a shake of his head. He filled his mug with coffee as he continued, "I meant literally standing open. I figured you were up."

Rebecca stared at him until he looked at her, one brow raised quizzically. "Did you shut it?" she asked.

"Well, yeah. Of course."

Despite his assurance, Rebecca left the kitchen to the main hall. The front door was shut, just like he's said, but she went and locked it, anyway. "Becca, what's wrong?" Nick called after her. She shook her head at him and trotted up the stairs to her bedroom. Her gun was on the bedside table, where she'd left it. She checked the chamber, clicked on the safety and belted its holster about her waist.

Steps on the stairs behind her made her tense, and she forced herself to face her friend as slowly as she could. When he got to the doorway, Nick stopped to take in her new accessory. "What's up?" he asked after a moment.

She swallowed thickly and crossed the room to shove him gently out the door. "Leave."

"What? But..."

"Please, Nick," she whispered and stared at his shoes. "I just... I can't right now. Please go."

She shut the door in his face, locked it, and pressed her back to the wood. Nick stood out there another few minutes, she could hear him breathing and when she squeezed her eyes shut she was back in the mansion, in that room, hiding from the zombies. Carefully, she lowered herself to the floor. A steady thump down the hall told her that he'd gone downstairs, but she never heard the front door shut.

A dry sob tore at her throat, and she pressed her forehead to her knees. Nick was her best friend, she reminded herself, he had been since college. He was _not_ an umbrella operative, or a zombie.

Unable to get her heart to behave, she her legs close and let herself cry.


End file.
